Summer construction projects

While the majority of Portland State students will enjoy the sunshine and abandon their textbooks this summer, construction on campus will stay in session.

Two main projects will continue over the summer months, according to Robyn Pierce, director of the Facilities and Planning department.

Lincoln Hall
Lincoln Hall, which has been under construction for the better part of a year, will finally reopen its doors to students during the summer. Some classrooms in the building will be open by August, Pierce said.

“[The] most exciting event over summer vacation will be relocating fine and performing arts, theater and music programs back into the refurbished and improved Lincoln Hall,” he said. “[We expect this] move should happen during the month of August.”

Francis McBride, the supervising architect for Facilities and Planning, was the project manager for the replacement of Lincoln Hall’s windows. Although he is not in charge of the entire project, he did say that Lincoln Hall is expected to be back in full use by fall of this year. 

According to McBride, the Lincoln Hall project went as planned. The summer construction is the final “catch-up work.” 

“There are always tiny [problems] with construction, but there was nothing big [during the renovation of Lincoln Hall],” McBride said.

The heating, cooling, window replacements and electric systems have already been updated, in addition to seismic retrofitting, to bring the building up to date.

This summer, the main goal will be to “move people back in,” according to McBride.

“There [will also be] a general sprucing up of the building,” he said.

Campus Wide Loop project
The Campus Wide Loop project will also continue through the summer, though its projected completion date is not until February 2011.  

The project is designed to save energy by updating the old PSU heating and cooling systems throughout campus. It can be seen most prevalently in the South Park Blocks, reaching from Shattuck Hall to Millar Library.
Phase 1 of the project—which began in February 2008—has already been completed. In an article published on April 8, Mark Fujii, the project manager and a mechanical engineer for Facilities and Planning, told the Vanguard that this stage involved the installation of a new 750-ton chiller in the East Heating Plant, located in the Cramer Hall sub basement.

Phase 1 also included upgrades to the steam and chilled water piping from Cramer Hall, through Smith Memorial Student Union and Neuberger Hall, to Shattuck Hall and across Broadway to the Education and School of Business Building, as well as to the University Services Building.

A tunnel, also part of Phase 1, was constructed across Sixth Avenue to the new Academic and Student Recreation Center.

The project’s current stage—Phase 2—includes construction of the “South” and “West” tunnels, which are evident by the blocked off areas in the South Park Blocks and those surrounding Science Building 2.

The “South” tunnel will connect Shattuck Hall to the south end of Millar Library through the Park Blocks. The “West Tunnel” will connect the west side of Millar Library to SB2.

The addition of the South and West tunnels, as well as the new piping added to the North tunnel, will allow more energy efficient equipment to share heat and cooling with greater portions of campus, Mark Fujii told the Vanguard.

Phase 2 of construction also includes the installation of a new 1,000-ton chiller and geothermal wells in, and around, SB2.

Other projects
In addition to the two larger projects, Pierce said that it is likely that there will be a couple of small classroom upgrades over the summer.

 “We hope to complete a few classroom upgrades while there are less students on campus,” she said. “Projects [of this sort] generally include energy efficient lighting, fresh paint, flooring and new tables and chairs and technology upgrades.”